No Air-Conditioning? Really?*

Today, we got "oriented" to the CTA, or Chicago Transit Authority--which means the buses and trains. It began with a great overview from Tiffanie (with Lane's help) at the Chicago Center offices in Hyde Park. State Street and Madison form the basis of the Chicago "grid" and Tiffanie taught us how to use the grid to get around. My family and I come into Chicago a few times a year but this was ALL NEW to me so it was great to get the lay of the land.

After the overview was the test: we split into two groups and headed out on adventures. Each group was sent to a CPS (Chicago Public Schools) high school; to a unique, local dining experience; and back to our housing on Hyde Park Blvd. What the Chicago Center folks didn't tell us was that our schools were not right around the corner: our group took a bus and two trains to get to Roosevelt High in the north part of the city. The trip took over an hour. But, of course, like all good pedagogically thinking educators, there was a method to their madness. By the time we returned to our housing in Hyde Park at 4:15, we had the system down. No bus scared us; no train intimidated us; we even weathered a somewhat overt display of bravado from a group of young girls on the bus who tried their hardest to lure us into a bit of loud horse-play. And Kevin was flashed by a young woman sunning on a roof-top in the northside as we traveled on the L. All in all, it was an educational trip.

We visited two high schools--one "small school" with an emphasis on engineering and a neighborhood schools with a center for recent immigrants right in the school. We got a chance to meet with people at the schools and ask questions. At Roosevelt where my group went, we entered through the metal detectors (they weren't activated but we did sign in with security at the door). The presence of security was something new to some of us. We observed in the hall for a while and Kevin was struck by the posturing of confrontation that seemed to be the root of the relationship between the security guards and some of the kids. It was as if the joking challenges were a way of forming a bond.

After getting back to the Boulevard (our housing unit), everyone struck out and ended up at the Lake. It was a beautiful day so it was a great day to check it out.

Finally, we ended the night at "That's Weird, Grandma"--a theater production by Barrel of Monkeys.

* Today was a bit toasty--by 9:00 a.m. it was 75 degrees with 71% humidity and rising. Last night, we slept comfortably in our beds...until around 1:30 a.m., when we all started waking up in pools of sweat. Heat rises, so we on the third floor were starting to cook. Fortunately, Amy and the crew at the Chicago Center got air-conditioners in this afternoon so our bedrooms are nice and cool.

Chicago, Here We Come!

At noon today, we boarded the MegaBus in Iowa City and headed east to Chicago. MegaBus is a double-decker bus and we rode on the "top floor." Let me just say this: that top floor sways like a prop plane in a storm! I was SURE we were going to tip right over. I told the students that our assignment on this trip would be to write our wills so, when the bus tips on the trip home, we'll have our affairs in order.





We're in Hyde Park, just blocks from the Obama home. We walked by this afternoon when we got here. It's a great neighborhood and we have lots to do and see. However, it was almost 90 degrees today and super humid so we're kind of just soaking in being here. We had our first adventure on the CTA to get to Chinatown for dinner--one bus, then the red line. It was nice to have our first trip be pretty low stress.

Right now (10:30 at night), there are two very intense games going on: Euchre (card game) in one corner, Apples to Apples [and I believe it's the dirty version so I'm trying not to listen too much] in the other corner. It makes it possible to forget that the heat hasn't broke and won't until Thursday...

Tomorrow, we are off exploring the city.

Hoop Dreams

Today we took the morning to watch Hoop Dreams, a documentary following the path of two young boys, William Gates and Arthur Agee, who dreamed of becoming professional basketball players. As we followed their two different paths through high school, we saw how important family was to them, role of the school, and the community they grew up in.
As we watched the journeys of these two boys, it made me think about how sports are seen in our society as a whole. Playing basketball at the high school level was called a “career” numerous times throughout the movie. When William gets hurt, it is almost seen as if he doesn’t have a future, unless his knee can be fixed.
I see school as a place to prepare students for their future. I don’t think either of these boys was prepared for their future. They were always thinking basketball and never thought of other career options. They didn’t want to follow in the paths of their fathers, but when it seemed that times were tough, would they follow through with their plans.
William was given the opportunity to succeed in a private high school because of his abilities, while Arthur was sent back to the public school when he didn’t meet expectations. We have been talking a lot about school choice. By creating competition through school choice, how does this affect the quality and type of education provided to students and the students personally?

Home Schooling

Today we had the chance to visit the MHSAP office located in Marion. Home schooling is one of few things that I don't know if it's really a benefit or not. The way this program is set up is a very inviting way for a person that knows nothing about the benefits and drawbacks of home schooling. This program was set up and described as more of an off campus school. They really didn't tell us much of how things are run at the home but mainly focused about how their center helps the students. The way they help is through providing the students with extra resources, extra help, and even house visits. When I was doing all my research I didn't find many Home Schooling programs set up like this.
I still have some issues with home schooling. I was hoping that some of these concerns would be whipped out after visiting the MHSAP today. Since the questions I had would of been against home schooling I felt that it would have been inappropriate for today so that is what this blog is for. The first issue I have with home schooling is the fact that you don't follow a traditional lesson of learning. The lessons you learn are the same and the way you learn are almost the same but there to me is a big advantage to a person that is home schooled than anyone else. When you are home schooled you are not on a time track so you get more attention and more help than one would receive in a public, charter, or private school. I don't know anyone that was home schooled and I wanted to know exactly how long do the students have to complete a school term. Because what if they are late with the mastering of a subject, do they receive the extra time needed to complete it or do they receive a failing grade. That is my second issue, do they fail? The administrators never really talked of how a student could fail. If the student cant fail than that is another big problematic advantage. I understand they do have to take the standardized tests but where are these taken... At home, or in an actual school setting?
The biggest issue that I have with the idea of home schooling is how do they prepare you for college. Home schooling is independent but how would one prepare for the pressure of college and trying to socially fit in? It takes some skill to survive in a competitive college and I don't think home schooling prepares you for the pressure that is put on one in this intense social environment. A big university would be a huge challenge for a person that is home schooled because the classes are very large and it would be hard to stop the classes to ask a small question. Above all how does some one that has had individual help all through their schooling learn to survive with little to no individual help in college. Now I know this is not how it is at every college because Coe would be the perfect fit for a person that is home schooled because of the small class sizes, and the help that every professor is willing to give. At the same time not every class at Coe is small and not every teacher is the same, or willing to take the extra time out to attend to one persons needs.
Now I'm curious to know the opinions of my classmates and if they agree or disagree with me. So feel free to say what ever and present any opinion that you have so that we may see every ones' opinion on if home schooling is the way to go or is not the way to go.

Dual Language at West Liberty

Yesterday we visited a fascinating school in West Liberty. It was their public elementary school and what is unique about it is its distinctive dual language program. Dual Language is an approach to teaching that incorporates both Spanish and English languages into the classroom in order to infuse both languages for the use of the students. The school has a 50/50 student population of native Spanish speakers and native English speakers. We were able to discuss the school and its program with the principal Dr. Nancy Gardner.
Not only is the program interesting, but also the history of how the dual language became such an important asset to the school and community. It started with one teacher’s spark of interest from a conference she attended in Des Moines. While at the conference she was shown a model of the program and found it was the preferred method for non-native speakers because, unlike some of the other programs for ELL’s, it helped students hold on to their own language as well as learn English. On top of that English speakers were also able to learn Spanish which would greatly benefit their futures as well as building a community.
The teacher, a title one teacher at the time, believed that the West Liberty School would greatly benefit from this way of learning because of the growth in Spanish speaking residents of the town. Knowing that this would require a bit of funding, she applied for and received a five-year $1.7 million dollar federal Title VII grant from the U.S. Department of Education. From that point they had support from the administration and teachers, but they were lacking the community component. The community was not fully aware of what this new title entailed and a few of the parents took it as “All students must learn Spanish.” They were also unaware of the grant and felt that the money would be taken from the district, hence also taken from their own well earned tax dollars.
Unfortunately at the same time the parents were just learning about the change, Iowa Cities press found out about the program and began to write about it in a way the school was not happy with. Then the school decided it was time to fully educate the community about the dual language component and rid the parents of the misleading rumors. They began to hold meetings for the parents and teach them about the benefits of the program and how it would specifically help their children. As a way to show the community how the program would be used in school they brought in one of their own kindergarten teachers to teach a lesson in Spanish over Little Red Riding Hood . The parents found that they enjoyed the new approach and found that the lesson was fun and engaging, and even learned a bit of Spanish themselves.
In the Fall of 1998 the first class of this new dual language program began at West Liberty. They started with two sections of Pre-k and two sections of Kindergarten. From then on the program began to grow up the grades as these first two classes began to move up the grade levels. The grant stopped after five years when the first group of students was in fifth grade. Because of the community interest and the students liking of the learning, the school continued the program as well as extended the number of years they originally planned to implement the program. They currently teach using the dual language program until the students are juniors.
The classrooms are typically split into half native Spanish speakers and half English speakers. They school also tries to balance the boy to girl ratio the same. The school also tries to keep a low number of students in the classroom for the most attention for each student. Their current maximum capacity is twenty two students. They also speak Spanish for half of the day, and then English for the other half. For each grade there is one teacher that instructs in only Spanish, while the other only in English. The students are aware that they only use the language the teacher uses while in their classroom. For student who need help translating they are paired up with a classroom buddy. The teachers are very supportive of this system and don’t typically break from the language they are supposed to be speaking. This is one way to model a real life scenario when meeting other individuals who only speak the one language. The program also alternates weeks where in the morning sessions they will use on language, then in the afternoon the students switch. The second week it would be opposite so that the students would speak the other language in the morning and then the opposite in the afternoon.

The dual language program has been utilized at West Liberty for 12 years now. The teachers at the school must have a certain proficiency of Spanish and English in order to teach at the classrooms. Every teacher has also spent a significant amount of time in a native Spanish speaking country. This provides a very authentic feel to the school and helps promote students to be more culturally aware. West Liberty is the smallest district to use the dual language program which makes it even more unique to the community. The school is receiving a larger demand of students and has turned to a lottery system in order to admit students. Students with a sibling in the school have first preference and then they are selected through a lottery system. There are four groups from which they pick from in order to ensure the 50/50 balance of languages used and sex ratio among the students. These four are: dominant Spanish-speaker male, dominant Spanish-speaker female, dominant English speaker male and dominant English speaker female.
Dr. Nancy Gardner also addressed some of the difficulties with the program. She stated that it was difficult to find bilingual teachers. She also has a smaller pool to choose from as far as good quality teachers as well. Another pressing issue deals with finding materials for the classrooms. While other schools need only text books and work books written in English, the dual program needs them in both languages.
After discussing the program with West Liberty’s principal we were able to visit three different classrooms. Our large group was spit into teams of two and we were directed to see varying grades. The first classroom I saw was first grade. They were working on reading out of a text book. Using my own limited Spanish skills I was able to comprehend that they were learning about planes and wedges. In this classroom the teacher spoke only Spanish, but was very animated with her and gestures. I found that these gestures were beneficial for my own comprehension and must have been for the students as well. It was awesome to see the students engaged in the reading as well as the conversation. When the teacher asked a question about what was happening in the story students immediately raised their hands to share their answers. The classroom environment also seemed very inviting. There were colorful posters and lots of books. The walls were filled with words and for each word there was a picture as well as the word written out in Spanish and English.
While the students were answering the teacher’s questions I was able to witness their language buddy system. One student, an English speaker, was unable to find the words to answer the question. She knew that she couldn’t say it in English, so instead in the middle of instruction she got up and asked her buddy next to her and in turn gave the correct answer in Spanish. I thought it was great that the students were able to feel comfortable in asking a friend for help and not get into trouble for it.
It was interesting seeing an upper level as well compared to the lower level. The students were reading a fictional story about (what I think was) three sisters who were different types of vegetation. Even though I wasn’t able to comprehend everything they were reading, the students were laughing along while the teacher read. Then after the story was complete they talked about the questions as a class. It seemed that this teacher often used both Spanish and English when summarizing the story and asking questions about it. It seemed that they might have had a student who was new to the program and this was a way to accommodate for her. The second upper level room we saw had a teacher who was from Spain. I found it interesting to hear how his accent differed from the other teachers. This classroom was filled with maps and cultural media about different Spanish speaking places around the world. The lesson they were learning was also in Spanish and about the Statue of Liberty. While I was in the room the specialist was doing most of the instruction while the teacher was drawing pictures on the board. This was a great way to reach out to the different types of learners who need that visual cue.
This was such a great opportunity to learn about a different way of teaching and how the dual language works in a small school setting. We were also able to see great teaching in action. After our class came back together we realized we all had one thing in common and that was we wish we would have taken more Spanish classes during our high school and college careers.

North Lawndale College Preparatory High School

Three Questions

Here are mine:
1) Can we see it? :) Is the charter on file? How closely related is the charter to the school mission? Is the mission an adaptation of the charter?

2) Why? Why do all the work and all the research to apply for the charter without set knowledge that you will get the charter?

3) Do students fail? How does NLCP handle students who fail?

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Day Two: The Emotion of Reform

Today, we met at the Iowa City Public Library and discussed the introduction and first essay in Mike Rose's book, Why School? In particular, we discussed the idea of collectivism versus individualism as a basis for public education policies.

We then went to a local Iowa City elementary school and talked to the principal about the climate in Iowa City as the school board prepares to change enrollment boundaries to meet the needs of the community growth and redistribution. This principal shared with us the complicated and emotional process of accommodating upwards of 60-plus students last August as two schools were put on the SINA list in town. This principal's school was the destination of all the students of schools on the east side of town who opted out of their SINA schools. The principal shared with us stories of helping families, staff, and--most importantly--kids navigate the changes involved in school growth. She lamented her lack of time to work with her staff to address everything from physical space for new classes to cultural competency about new students, as the changes to her school came fast and furious within two weeks of the start of the school year last fall. The principal told us that only in the past two weeks (with less than four weeks left in the school year) has she felt like the atmosphere at the school has settled and the apprehensive tension she felt all year had subsided. I was grateful for her time, her candor, and her honesty about the pain, anger, and frustration associated with policy decisions that touch some many lives.

[I'm DISTRACTED by hour FOUR of the Iowa City School Board meeting currently running live on public access television. I just watched the board members spend 30 minutes voting and voting against another work session to discuss boundary changes. Once it was determined that they would NOT have a work session, they are now...getting to work. :) Hour FOUR!!]

Tomorrow: A Right Denied. Secret Readers. And considering private versus public school teaching.

Day One

Today, we met as a class and considered some of the over-arching issues related to education and schooling in terms of reform.

Those ideas included:
Dual Language Schools Daniell
Single Sex Schools and Classrooms Liesl
School Choice Emily
Positive Behavior System Danielle
Year Round School Keri
Home Schooling Cedric
At-Risk Education Cari
Afrocentric Education Kevin

One of my goals this month is to constantly ask why: why is dual language schooling criticized? why do we no longer use the term "at-risk" or at least no longer use it as much as we used to? why does school choice challenge the core fundamentals of our democratic society?

As we proceed, I encourage you as students to ask the same types of questions. For better or for worse, I am pretty comfortable saying there are no right or wrong answers when it comes to finding what works in schooling.

[Why do I use the term "schooling" as opposed to "education"? Is there a difference? Should there be?]

testing blog posting from my mobile phone. Class - if you'd like to be able to do this email me.
(posted from Lisa's mobile)

Welcome

This is the blog for the Coe College May Term '10 Equity in Education class. Follow along as eight students and one fearless leader tackle topics ranging from the social, political, and legal history of school segregation to the current trends in educational attainment by race, class, and gender, in order to better understand the complicated nature of educational reform and educational stagnation in American schools.